1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a forgery-proof information carrier, for example an indentity card (ID card), a bank card or a permit card which contains in an unbreakable bond between two plastics films an insert with a passport photo, data about the owner and different security features.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to provide documents, such as an ID card insert, with passport photos, signatures and fingerprints and to then weld the documents between films.
In order to prevent passport photos which have been inserted from being exchanged, the insert may be made of a piece of special photographic paper, on the layers of which the data of the card owner and the passport photo are exposed and developed. The insert may then be provided with additional identification features, for example with line print or autotypy, and is finally welded between films.
It is known from German Auslegeschrift No. 2,631,246 to provide documents, such as identity cards, permit cards and the like, with permanent magnets, magnetic sheets, magnetic tapes or metal sheets. These devices may be used to open a magnetic lock or to operate a switch. U.S. Pat. No. 4,066,873 describes the insertion into such documents of magnetic strips which contain coded magnetic information, and a printed binary code is simultaneously provided for an optical inquiry.
This and a number of similar known types of production of information carriers have the disadvantage that the outer edges of the carriers are not adequately protected, so that they may be easily damaged by mechanical stresses (for example when they are used for scraping off ice from car windows). This may render the information carrier unuseable, particularly if the information is intended to be read mechanically and the spacing of the information to the edge of the card is changed by a strain on the edges.
The object of the present invention is to provide an information carrier which affords a high degree of security against forgeries and the edge stability of which is improved such that even if the edges are subjected to a considerable mechanical stress, the machine-readability of the data in different identification reading devices is still ensured.
The object is achieved according to the present invention for an information carrier of the initially-mentioned type in that a metal insert is provided at least in the region of the edges of the information carrier.
The metal insert protects the edges of the information carrier in a surprisingly simple manner against wear, because the metal of the metal insert offers substantially more resistance to a mechanical stress compared to the hitherto conventional plastics edges of information carriers. The metal edge ensures a reliable insertion of the carrier into the reading device and thus ensures the undisturbed readability of the data by the information reading device. Moreover, the information is more stable as a result of the metal insert and, as shown below, is more secure against forgeries.
In a preferred embodiment, the metal insert is a metal mask which is positioned along the edges of the information carrier. The metal mask or insert may be produced from any metal. Good results with respect to the mechanical resistance are provided by a sheet steel mask, which also has financial advantages. The thickness of the mask is generally comparable with that of the insert. However, it may also be clearly lower in some forms of use. If forgery of the information carrier is to be more difficult, then more unusual metals or metal alloys may be used as a metal mask. The mask may also be used as another security feature if it has certain magnetic or electrical property, for example a certain coercive force, a certain capacitance or a certain resistance.
In an advantageous further development, the metal mask is designed to be outwardly flush with the edges of the information carrier and its inside edges are irregular or jagged, as a result of which it becomes much more difficult to open the welded or bonded carrier for forgery purposes.
Another further development of the metal insert or mask is distinguished in that the metal insert or mask is provided with bores, through which the top plastics film is joined to the bottom plastics film by bonding or welding. The join between the insert, the metal insert or mask and the two protective films is improved by this measure and any attempt at forgery is further complicated.